


A Day In The Life Of An Orphan

by ColeAutherium



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anxiety, Big Bro Shiro to save the day, Depression, Gay Keith, Homophobia, Orphan Keith in shelter, PTSD, Please read!, Poor Keith, Sad, Shelters, Slightly changed real events, Trust Issues, Why would I write something so sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 10:13:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11056824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColeAutherium/pseuds/ColeAutherium
Summary: Keith has to deal with being in shelter care because his parents are gone. Other kids are gonna hate, Keith has a little crush on a boi, it's all really sad. Read the NOTES for more info





	A Day In The Life Of An Orphan

**Author's Note:**

> ((A/N: Just to let you guys know, this is based on my own personal experiences. I am an orphan who is currently growing up in the system and I wanted to write this because it seemed like a neat idea. This is about a modern Keith Kogane who is 17 and goes to highschool. I am writing of his reactions to living in a day of my life that happened recently. Keep in mind that these will be his reactions and not what I felt or did. I will be changing the names of places and people as well. Have fun!))

A young boy trudged home. His shoulders hang low from the weight of his school bag and the depression he carried. It was the weekend. Which meant he had nowhere to escape to during the day. He was going to be stuck in hell, also known as A.P.T.S. Or, Allden Park Transitional Shelter, prison for the unwanted. It had many names really. He made his way down a small winding path to the front door. It was a dark navy blue and busted metal, beside it was a buzzer that he pressed and held for a second. It took a good five minutes until someone came down to get him.  
“Keith! Welcome back.” A tall blonde woman opened the door with a obviously fake voice and tired blue eyes. He only adjusted his bag and walked past her into the tiny downstairs room.   
“Hey, Sidney.” He turned to her, she wore casual blue skinny jeans and a black, uniform polo with the name of this place in bold white letter on her chest near her name tag.   
“How was school?” It sounded as if she had rehearsed this. Then again, she’s said it so many times to every kid that walks through that stupid locked door.   
“It was school.” His voice was low, tired and monotone. He didn’t care. He hated this part. Checking in. It was just way too much work. Sidney set down a light green folder onto a counter sticking out of the plain beige wall. The object more than likely held his file. Keith slid his backpack off his shoulders and onto a blue plastic chair, one of many lining the wall. He took out his phone, earbuds and phone charger, placing them next to her folder. No electronics upstairs. Sidney gestured for him to come closer as she reached into the nearest box for a handheld metal detector.   
“You know the drill.” She said and he replied by holding his arms out like a scarecrow. It wasn’t his first time here. Even though the maximum amount of days you could stay here was 15 it didn’t mean he hadn’t been here on multiple occasions. He got kicked out all the time from long term shelters and foster homes for simple shit like slamming the door to hard, his sexuality or because they couldn’t afford to take him to therapy anymore. Not like he liked therapy anyways. Who cares if he never knew his mother or that his father left him in a shack in the middle of a desert when he was three? He certainly didn’t. Sidney checked his entire front before making him turn around and doing the same with the back. “Shoes and hat.” She said as she put the metal detector back. He took off his beanie and shook it rapidly for her before sliding off his converse. She picked up the shoes and tapped the bottoms of them together to make anything inside fall out. Nothing did.   
“I don’t know why you insist on doing this every time. You know I don’t do drugs.” He said, annoyance sneaking into his voice as the staff member proceeded to check his bag.  
“Well, yes, but when you first got here you tried to sneak a pocket knife up to your room to hide under your pillow.” Was her reply as she handed him his bag and shoes.  
“Yeah, but I have anxiety and trust issues. Those do not make a good combo.” He let his sarcasm sink through. Sidney grabbed her folder and his electronics before swiping her key card across a panel to unlock the second door that lead to carpet covered stairs.  
“You have PTSD and depression but you never use those as an excuse for your little pocket knife skit.” She said playfully to which he chuckled lightly. It was very rarely that he had these kind of moments. Happy ones. He stared at the stairs, trying to listen for any loud noises to asses what the other teenagers upstairs might be doing. You see, if you were between the ages of 13 and 18 and had nowhere to go for the time being you were thrown in here. That included kids from juvie, the streets, and people he got kicked out of other places like Keith Kogane himself. Throw all those kinds of kids together and things never really went smoothly. “Come on Keith. We don’t have all day, the other staff need me upstairs.” Oh, that was never a good sign. He grimaced as he finally began to climb the stairs. At the top there were two doors. The one to his left was a room lined with doors that all lead to bedrooms. Nobody got to use the downstairs bedrooms unless the ones upstairs were at full capacity. To the right was a big living space were all the kids were forced to hang out together until room time. He hated being social. As much as he wished he could go left, he ended up going right. Opening the door everyone’s eyes were immediately on him. He made a sharp turn to see, geuss what? That’s right, more stairs. He quickly began climbing them, Sidney no longer behind him as she went to go lock up his electronics in a safe somewhere.   
"I'm coming up." He said, hoping someone was already upstairs. You were not allowed to be in any room without adult supervision.   
"Keith? You're back!" It was a male this time, young, a little on the heavy side.  
"Sup Joe." The key to living here was to be friends with the staff. If they like you, they tend to break rules for. Such as giving you more time alone in your room or maybe sneaking you an extra granola bar during snack. Keith used this to his advantage when necessary. At the top of the stairs, Joe stood next to a red door with a chalkboard attached to it. All the doors up here were colorful and... Locked. His name was written in pretty handwriting on the chalkboard in neon looking green chalk and his name... Someone had put a line through it? He started at it, confused. Under his name in ugly writing was the word 'faggot'. Really? How old were these kids, that's just stupid.   
"Oh, sorry Keith. I think Jason might have done that. I'll erase it in a second." Joe said as he used a key in his necklace to unlock his room, the door finally opened. "Bedroom Door." Said a machine somewhere. Everytime a door opened a machine announced it to the world. It was annoying really. Keith shrugged in response to Joe's comment, holding the door in place is the tall staff member.  
"It's whatever. I don't care." Yeah he kind of cared. Maybe a little bit.   
"Okay, well get whatever you need and head back downstairs. I'm only going to be up here for a few minutes." Joe's voice was low but happy. It was reassuring. Keith nodded before letting the bedroom door fall closed.  
At last, he was alone again. His room had to be the size of a McDonald's bathroom with how small it was, it was also empty. A plastic, three drawer dresser with maybe three pairs of black skinny jeans and five t-shirts. A backpack with shower stuff, deodorant, undergarments and then his school bag. Lets just say he didn't keep a lot with him for transitioning purposes. He set down his bag on his “bed”. It wasn’t really a bed, more like upraised tile they put an inch of blow up plastic on topped off with a blanket and pillow. It did nothing but cause him back pain. He looked down at himself, it was in those summer months now, school coming close to an end to the point where he found himself wearing more ripped jeans and a tank top today. All of course black because he was trying to get heatstroke. Maybe they would send him to the hospital. Better than here. He was fine with how he currently looked and opened his door, ignoring the mean word on his chalkboard and heading back down the stairs after waving goodbye to joe. Here we are. Hell.   
Currently the shelter had around ten kids. Half were from juvie and the other half were runaways. All of them did drugs and a third of them liked to get drunk. Statistics Keith overheard and kept locked away in his head in case he might need them. Right now a few of them were playing air hockey at the small gaming area, others were watching whatever random horror movie they put on and there was always someone at the big chalkboard drawing. Keith made his way into the dining room. All these places had no walls to separate them because the staff had to keep an eye on everyone. It was pretty annoying. Keith sat down in one of the many colorful plastic chairs at the also plastic table. So much fucking plastic. Nothing could be real here. Soon enough a staff member sat beside him.   
“Hey Keith, tell me how school went?” It was a girl with a soft real smile. Her name was Casey, she was a tall brunette with round glasses that helped frame her face. She was Keith’s closest...staff member, he liked to talk to her after a tiring day and she knew he had it rough as is. She was always ready to help. So, like she had asked, he went into a long rant about the events at school, trying to be quiet cause not everyone needed to know about his daily life, and he found himself smiling at the end. “So there's someone you like?” She questioned happily. Keith fiddled with his fingers under the table, smiling down at the plain grey surface in front of him.   
“Well yeah.” He said quietly, not knowing about prying ears.  
“What’s their name?” Casey asked, genuinely curious because it wasn’t every day someone who looked like Keith would be blushing red.  
“His name’s Lance… he’s in my gym class.” He was embarrassed about this but he felt like his little friend deserved to know. Then the reason Keith didn’t talk often showed up.  
“Fucking shit, that’s hella gay man!” Some kid shouted behind Keith’s head. The ravenette turned to see a teenager not even 16 staring at him with a face of disgust. He wore baggy grey sweats and some band tee, his hat on backwards and his dark eyes staring into Keith’s violet ones. He had dark skin and clearly a smoker's face with the wrinkles someone his age shouldn’t have.  
“Leave me alone.” Keith practically growled. People these days were still obsessed with this kind of thing? Really?  
“Nah man, that’s fucking gross! What’s wrong with you, faggot!” Why did people like him have to shout things like that. Casey stood up behind Keith.  
“Jason! That’s so rude. People are allowed to like whoever they want.” She said, defending the orphan boy who trusted her so much. Jason rolled his eyes.   
“I ain’t gon be here if his gay ass is here. I ain’t into all that shit.” Jason said his last words and walked off, more than likely to spread bad rumors to whoever would listen. Keith looked to the ground as he clenched his fists and walked back to the door he had come from.  
“Keith, wait.” Casey called after him. But he wasn’t listening. He didn’t need this. He pushed open the door and walked right across the hall and into the next room full of downstairs bedrooms. He wanted to be alone. He wasn’t allowed to be alone. Casey came in right after him, closing the door behind them. “Keith, hon, you can’t be in here, you know that.” She said, trying to help calm him down.  
“Well, if I was in that fucking room that idiot wouldn’t be breathing for very much longer!” He shouted. Obviously he didn’t mean this. But you could say just about anything when you were angry.   
“Hey, Jason is just stating his opinion.”  
“Well I don’t want his stupid opinion on my sexuality! I don’t want to be here anymore Casey!” He was still screaming and he was sure others could hear him. He had his hands in his hair and he wanted to cry but he got angry instead.  
“Okay, okay, I get it. You can’t exactly leave but… You can go on pass? There’s a Starbucks down the street, go use the Wi-Fi and calm down? I’ll sign you out, okay?” Casey always did help him when he needed it. He took a few deep breaths.   
“Fine.” He paused and crossed his arms over his chest, staring holes into the ground. “Thank you.” He grumbled. He uncrossed his arms and followed Casey into an office room so she could grab his file. He’d only been back for an hour or so and he was already leaving again.   
The checking out process always took forever. Casey had grabbed his file and walked him down the stairs.   
“That’s right, leave you fag!” Keith clenched his fists and said nothing back. He walked down and Casey unlocked the door into the small room he had been in before when he had first arrived. The tall woman went into a back room and grabbed his electronics from the safe, handing him his phone and charger and earbuds again. It took about five minutes to finally get him out the door.  
“Be back in a few hours. I’ll save you some dinner.” Casey waved goodbye as Keith walked away down the path. He really hated that place but the staff were okay. Days weren’t as bad as the nights though.   
\---  
Just like he was told, Keith came back a few hours later, around 8 o’clock and buzzed the buzzer. Of course, Alysson was the one to come get him. She was a dark skinned woman with dreadlocks and dark purple tips. She was chill but she had a bite to her.   
“What’s up little man?” Why must she call him that? He shrugged to acknowledge her before walking back inside. He handed over his electronics. This was so routine to him now. She wanded him with the metal detector and soon he was being let up again. It was much louder than before and room time wasn’t even until 10.   
“What was for dinner?” He asked the chubby woman following him up the stairs.  
“Veggie lasagna. Saved you some.” She smiled and Keith couldn’t help the tug at the corner of his lips. Then he opened the door. What. The. Actual hell? Seriously, these kids were teenagers but they were throwing dominoes and marbles around the room. The floor was covered in small toes and board games and- was that DIY slime? Keith cringed. Eww, he hated mess. It was so...messy. He walked past the screaming children and went straight to his usual place at the dinner table. Maria, a short, thin Latina woman was in the kitchen today, she must have seen him because she was warming up food for him in the microwave.  
“Welcome back.” She said and Keith waved, not wanting to scream over the people already screaming. Keith was already growing a headache. A migrane more like. Probably from the yelling six year olds who just learned how to say bitch. Honestly, they never stopped cursing. After a few minutes Keith had a steaming plate of food in front of him. He picked up his orange plastic fork and slowly began to eat his food as well as try to zone out the annoying people around him. It wasn’t working. The noise was so bad. The fighting. The clients were insulting the staff, refusing to do simple things like put their dishes away. He was resisting the urge to just scream at them to shut up.  
After his belated dinner everyone was forced to go upstairs for room time and showers. Keith tended to shower every night to keep his hair from getting greasy and he could always use a break. They all went up, some with more difficulty. Keith was still trying to ignore everyone. Block out the screaming and screeching and shouting. The insults and rude words. The bathroom door was opened for him by Casey and it was shouted over the monitor. “Bathroom Door, Open.” He hurried inside and let it fall shut behind him. A towel and soap were already on the counter and he realized he didn’t have his extra clothes but he refused to go back out there until some of the destruction had calmed down. He turned on the hot water and waited for it to warm up as he stripped himself of his clothes. It was hotter upstairs and he was so close to taking a cold shower instead.   
He stepped into the hot water when he was ready and let it run over his muscles. It would have been soothing if he couldn’t literally hear people knocking over book shelves and telling staff that their bitch ass haters and no one deserves to be stuck here. That was probably Jason and Mari. Those two were always causing trouble. He covered his ears and pretended he wasn’t scared for the older people who worked here.   
He stayed in the shower until the water ran cold and even a little after that, washing up and getting ready to walk back out there. He dried himself off and brushed his hair, throwing away the small empty soap bottles and wrapping his towel around his neck while shoving the plastic comb into his jean pocket. He opened the door and the volume grew ten fold.  
“Shut the fuck up! I have places to go tomorrow and I don’t need all your bullshit!” Keith couldn’t help but shout. Obviously somebody came at him with a flying right hook. He dodged it and elbowed the boy in the stomach. “Back off. I’m tired.” He said to Jason who was now on the floor, ready to get up and tackle him down the stairs.  
“Boys! No fighting!” Casey called out.  
“Shut up bitch!” Jason shouted back.  
“Don’t call her a bitch, bitch.” He replied, mocking his earlier tone. Casey opened Keith door for him before anything elses could happen. Keith angrily threw his towel into his hamper basket and ripped off his shirt. It was hot as hell in his room. He’d open the window but they were locked from the outside, you couldn’t even see through them, they were made out of blurred plexiglass. He sat down onto his hard, uncomfortable bed and stretched out. Sleep. He just needed sleep.  
He lay there for a good five minutes, letting his eyes shut and concentrating his breathing now he jus-  
“You stupid assholes! Just let me go! I hate it here!” UUUUUUUUGH NO ONE COULD EVER JUST LET HIM SLEEP!? He hadn’t slept in two days and his body was begging for it. He decided it wouldn’t be hard to just wait it out. Let the noise go down a bi-  
“Let GO!” Oh, okay, he couldn’t even finish his thoughts now. That’s it. He wasn’t going to stay in here. It was too hot anyways. He grabbed the blanket he was laying on and stood up, heading to his door and leaving. A few people stared but no one questioned him as he began heading down the stairs. Once he was on the second floor and headed across the hall and two the room farthest away from whatever was happening upstairs. He waited. All the doors were locked, he wasn’t able to just open one, but he knew someone would chase after him. It was their job after all. Eventually a small pale woman with big green eyes and dark brown hair came up to him with a key.   
“You want to move down here?” She asked. Her name tag said Marissa. Keith nodded in response and she smiled softly at him. “Alright, sorry about all the ruckus up there. It must really be bothering you. I hope you get some sleep.” She said kindly.  
“Thank you.” He said back and she unlocked his door. He stepped inside and already it was better. It was a bit bigger and the room was cooler because there was air conditioning down here. Thank god. He felt like he could finally breathe. He lay his blankets on the mattress and lay down on top of it. He was about to close his eyes when all of a sudden he could hear nothing but banging from the floor above. Really? Even from down here? This was insane. He was going insane. He turned onto his side and brought his knees up so he was curling into a ball. He covered his ears and glared at the wall across from him. Why? He wasn’t angry anymore, he had no one to let his anger out on so he couldn’t really be angry. So his depression kicked in.  
Why did he have to be here? Why was life so hard for him? It wasn’t supposed to be this hard! He felt tears pooling up in his eyes and realization hit him. He hasn’t cried in months. That couldn’t be good for him. He thought about everything at this moment with moonlight shining through the plexiglass and bars over the window. Why couldn’t anybody want him? Why couldn’t they keep him? Why why why? The same damn question every person asks in this situation. But no one ever had an answer. If he had a panic attack right now someone would call the ambulance and then everyone around him would tell him to use his coping skills and breathing tools. How dumb. Then again. Nobody was going to open his room till morning. If he had died no one would know until nine in the morning.   
BANG BANG BANG BEEEEEEEEEEEEP  
That was the alarm. If you pushed open the door it would beep for fifteen long seconds before it would open up for you. That meant someone was running away. The staff couldn’t exactly stop them. Keith’s frustrated tears rolled over the bridge of his nose and onto the mattress. He hadn’t even known he was shaking. He would say he was choking back sobs but everything passing his lips came out unbearably silent. As if he had no voice to begin with. Yelling and screaming and beeping and banging and Keith could feel his heart beating rapidly against his chest. What could be happening? His anxiety was kicking in next. Someone could’ve just fallen down the stairs, or been pushed. What if one of the kids had accidentally killed a staff member? Or the other way around? The bangin didn’t help him. Something awful could be happening, people could be killed. He didn’t know what to think and all the images passing through his head were reminding him of things he didn’t want to remember. Abusive foster parents, heatstroke in the desert, parents walking away, everyone leaving. Stupid PTSD, not that too. This exact same thing had happened last night. Last weekend even and he was sent to the hospital. No no no no, make it stop.  
“St..op!” That voice shook him out of his thoughts. It was his own. It sounded broken and wounded. Like someone was stepping on his stomach. His eyes widened as his world came back into focus and he realized his was gripping his hair and ears as a way to try and block out the noise. Everything was quiet now. He loosened his grip and looked straight ahead. He hadn’t moved. He didn’t want to move. His tears had soaked bits of his hair and his nose was runny, he was cold even, as the night had gone on the temperature had dropped. He looked up to his clock. It was two in the morning. Not again. He sat up and wiped at his face. Crap. Ten more days of this. He lay back down and stare at the ceiling this time. Now what?  
\---  
“Keith? Your brother is here to visit you!” Keith shot up out of bed and ran to the door. He had fallen asleep and woken up again at eight. He had been just laying on his bed until someone came to “wake him up” but now he was excited. He opened the door and passed the lady that had knocked on his door, not recognizing them. He wanted to see his brother! The shelter was empty save for himself and one other girl who never caused to much trouble. So it was quiet. In the other room Keith ran in and wrapped his arms around the tall man inside.  
“Shiro!” He shouted, burying his face in the man's dark purple button up.  
“Hey buddy. How’ve you been?” They would continue on to have a long conversation, only for Keith to know Shiro couldn’t save him. Not yet. He was stuck here for now, no matter how painful it was.

 

-END-


End file.
